This paper reports an effective route for the syntheses of N-substituted dicarbamates from dialkyl carbonates and polyurea derivatives, in which polyurea derivatives could be successfully synthesized from aliphatic diamines and CO2 in the absence of any catalyst. Under the optimized reaction conditions, various N-substituted carbamates were successfully synthesized with 93–98% isolated yields over a MgO–ZnO catalyst. The catalyst could be reused for several runs without deactivation. The catalysts were characterized with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and temperature-programmed desorption.

Magnetic binary Mg\Fe oxides were prepared by co-precipitation method, characterized and tested in the synthesis of 2-oxazolidinones from epoxides and carbamates. The catalytic results showed that the catalyst with Mg/Fe molar ratio of 1 and calcined at 400 °C exhibited superior catalytic activity. The catalyst could be magnetically separated, recycled and reused for five runs without noticeable deactivation. Under the optimized conditions, various 2-oxazolidinones derivatives were successfully synthesized with good to excellent isolated yields.

CO2/H2 was successfully employed in alkylation reactions by performing CO2 reduction and amine N-methylation in one-pot. In the presence of a simple CuAlOx catalyst, N-methyl or N,N-dimethyl amines with different structures can be selectively synthesized with up to 96% yields by applying amine, nitrobenzene and nitrile as starting materials.

The electroreduction of oxygen was firstly studied on Ag/Co3O4–C in alkaline media prepared by depositing Ag on Co3O4 modified carbon (Co3O4–C). The Ag/Co3O4–C composite not only displayed relatively large electrochemical active surface area (ESA), high catalytic activity towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), but also exhibited good methanol tolerance and stability in alkaline media. Ag/Co3O4–C could be a valuable catalyst for ORR and be applied to alkaline fuel cells and metal–air batteries.

Because of its sensitivity to chemical and electrostatic characteristics, nitrile group as an infrared (IR) probe to monitor the local structure, folding kinetics, and electrostatic environment of protein, or solvation of molecular solvents, has attracted increasing attention. Herein, by choosing benzonitrile and imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) as the IR probe and model ILs, respectively, we report that the nitrile stretching vibration (νCN) could be utilized as a simple and substantial IR probe to monitor the local environment of ILs such as hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) as well as intrinsic electric field. In 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium-based non-hydroxyl ILs, the νCN is in a “free” state, and is less affected by the alkyl chain, while it significantly decreases with the effective anion charge. In 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium-based hydroxyl ILs, however, a distinct anion-dependent νCN forming H-bonding with the hydroxyl is also observed besides the “free” νCN band. The “free” component of νCN can be further employed to determine the intrinsic electric field in both non-hydroxyl (directly) and hydroxyl (indirectly by subtracting H-bonding contribution) ILs by using vibrational Stark effect. Moreover, the result suggests that benzonitrile is preferentially located in the charge domain in ILs and it could be a more suitable probe to report the ionic network rather than the nonpolar domain in ILs.

By applying a simple TiO2–(NH4)2S2O8 system and promoted by UV light, the three-component reactions of cyclic ether, aniline and aldehyde can be progressed efficiently. 29 substituted amines with different structures were synthesized with up to 97% isolated yields. Isotope effect study revealed that the ratedetermining step might be the nucleophilic addition step but not radical generation.